Unpopular opinion??

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Entamoeba

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A little bit of a rant, I suppose. Most may not agree or take this the wrong way. However; it must be said.
A little background: I have been accepted into a College of pharmacy. It is not top tier or bottom tier. The university is pretty famous, but the pharmacy school is a little above average and very affordable.
Rant:
As I was doing my undergrad, I visited pharmacy schools that spat out assurances such as that they will be lowering the bar pcat score (or even getting rid of it, simply requiring whatever score), lowering the gpa requirement to 2.75 (or so), or disregarding failed undergrad courses. I am not sure about the requirements for other schools, but i'm sure that if the average schools i visited were proposing this, other schools in the country were too.
Now i know there are plenty of applicants whom have worked in pharmacy since they were in high school as techs or people with a lot of experience in health care that simply wan't to move up (and schools are taking this into consideration), but these pre-academic standards should remain high. Especially given the saturation problem.
The debate that pins those succeeding academically vs. those only with a loaded resumé - to see who is more qualified, can go on forever. But, one thing i have seen with the Pre-health students (in general) is that they always want to "get over the sciences and go into the health-care". These are your pamphlet reciting students that do it only for the resumé and barely get by in the sciences. They often whine about being very tired and get irritated when a science student "tries too hard". I stress that i talk about general pre-health students because i know some health fields really aren't too concerned about science, but they are rooted in science and should only contain high quality science-literate people.
I believe that standards should be high across the board. Pharmacy schools should only consider GPAs higher than a 3.0 and PCATs with a 70% or higher. Trash the pre-requisite only system (schools may still have courses they want to see on your transcript) and only accept those with a bachelor's degree in a science. I am not saying that these are the only things one must have to be considered; as with all jobs, one must communicate effectively and all that basic stuff. Much more people can have just that. But when you can have those with all that and a proper education, standards are higher.

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I agree, an academic foundation is quintessential to being a useful member of the umbrella of health professions. Perhaps the holistic approach isn't cutting it? Curious on your opinion on such evaluations, specifically regarding extraneous circumstances with applicants because, as I am sure you know, stuff happens. I am sure this applies to many other professions as well.
 
It used to be that a 3.5 GPA, 70-80 PCAT, bachelors degree, and work experience were de facto requirements to getting into pharmacy school. That was the case until pharmacy schools started opening on every corner and flooding the job market with low quality graduates. Schools continue to be greedy and have lowered standards to make sure that they fill their seats with students who do have little or no qualifications other than being able to take out $200k+ in loans.

I am more concerned about another subset of students: those who regardless of GPA or PCAT have never stepped foot in a pharmacy until rotations.
 
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I am more concerned about another subset of students: those who regardless of GPA or PCAT have never stepped foot in a pharmacy until rotations.

The number of people like this was the most eye-opening thing doing interviews the last two weeks. I’ll have been a tech for 3 years when I matriculate this fall. I obviously don’t expect all my classmates to know everything I’ve learned during that time but holy **** why would you accumulate that much debt without knowing what you’re getting into.
 
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Reply to Stoichiometrist: Yes. With experience and with the grades (experience is implied). However, it seems like there is a movement against those with the grades (the point of my post). Every school I visited talked about how they will prioritize experience and resumé, as long as they have the bare minimum GPA on pre reqs/ pcat. But the best applicant is: one with experience AND high grades - high quality science background in a bachelors or higher. But you're right. These schools only think about their best interests - getting paid.
 
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A little bit of a rant, I suppose. Most may not agree or take this the wrong way. However; it must be said.
A little background: I have been accepted into a College of pharmacy. It is not top tier or bottom tier. The university is pretty famous, but the pharmacy school is a little above average and very affordable.
Rant:
As I was doing my undergrad, I visited pharmacy schools that spat out assurances such as that they will be lowering the bar pcat score (or even getting rid of it, simply requiring whatever score), lowering the gpa requirement to 2.75 (or so), or disregarding failed undergrad courses. I am not sure about the requirements for other schools, but i'm sure that if the average schools i visited were proposing this, other schools in the country were too.
Now i know there are plenty of applicants whom have worked in pharmacy since they were in high school as techs or people with a lot of experience in health care that simply wan't to move up (and schools are taking this into consideration), but these pre-academic standards should remain high. Especially given the saturation problem.
The debate that pins those succeeding academically vs. those only with a loaded resumé - to see who is more qualified, can go on forever. But, one thing i have seen with the Pre-health students (in general) is that they always want to "get over the sciences and go into the health-care". These are your pamphlet reciting students that do it only for the resumé and barely get by in the sciences. They often whine about being very tired and get irritated when a science student "tries too hard". I stress that i talk about general pre-health students because i know some health fields really aren't too concerned about science, but they are rooted in science and should only contain high quality science-literate people.
I believe that standards should be high across the board. Pharmacy schools should only consider GPAs higher than a 3.0 and PCATs with a 70% or higher. Trash the pre-requisite only system (schools may still have courses they want to see on your transcript) and only accept those with a bachelor's degree in a science. I am not saying that these are the only things one must have to be considered; as with all jobs, one must communicate effectively and all that basic stuff. Much more people can have just that. But when you can have those with all that and a proper education, standards are higher.

Not an unpopular opinion, just an ignored fact. When no experience and low GPAs exist with schools willing to accept (though wrong) these said students, who’s to blame them flocking to the open doors signing away high burdens of debt. I still say with a good contingency and preparation financially many “could” succeed. However as stats stand, many more will / cannot succeed. Saturation coupled with no preparation and research will trump the majority.
 
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A little bit of a rant, I suppose. Most may not agree or take this the wrong way. However; it must be said.
A little background: I have been accepted into a College of pharmacy. It is not top tier or bottom tier. The university is pretty famous, but the pharmacy school is a little above average and very affordable.
Rant:
As I was doing my undergrad, I visited pharmacy schools that spat out assurances such as that they will be lowering the bar pcat score (or even getting rid of it, simply requiring whatever score), lowering the gpa requirement to 2.75 (or so), or disregarding failed undergrad courses. I am not sure about the requirements for other schools, but i'm sure that if the average schools i visited were proposing this, other schools in the country were too.
Now i know there are plenty of applicants whom have worked in pharmacy since they were in high school as techs or people with a lot of experience in health care that simply wan't to move up (and schools are taking this into consideration), but these pre-academic standards should remain high. Especially given the saturation problem.
The debate that pins those succeeding academically vs. those only with a loaded resumé - to see who is more qualified, can go on forever. But, one thing i have seen with the Pre-health students (in general) is that they always want to "get over the sciences and go into the health-care". These are your pamphlet reciting students that do it only for the resumé and barely get by in the sciences. They often whine about being very tired and get irritated when a science student "tries too hard". I stress that i talk about general pre-health students because i know some health fields really aren't too concerned about science, but they are rooted in science and should only contain high quality science-literate people.
I believe that standards should be high across the board. Pharmacy schools should only consider GPAs higher than a 3.0 and PCATs with a 70% or higher. Trash the pre-requisite only system (schools may still have courses they want to see on your transcript) and only accept those with a bachelor's degree in a science. I am not saying that these are the only things one must have to be considered; as with all jobs, one must communicate effectively and all that basic stuff. Much more people can have just that. But when you can have those with all that and a proper education, standards are higher.

Well I think if you feel strongly about this you should get a spot on the comittee (in the future) that handles these issues so you can have an impact on this.

That said, in my opinion in some cases numbers don’t mean everything. My father, who is also a pharmacist says he’s seen people with excellent gpas be horrible with the public.
Like in science, you can’t really know everything because sometimes there are too many factors.
 
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A little bit of a rant, I suppose. Most may not agree or take this the wrong way. However; it must be said.
A little background: I have been accepted into a College of pharmacy. It is not top tier or bottom tier. The university is pretty famous, but the pharmacy school is a little above average and very affordable.
Rant:
As I was doing my undergrad, I visited pharmacy schools that spat out assurances such as that they will be lowering the bar pcat score (or even getting rid of it, simply requiring whatever score), lowering the gpa requirement to 2.75 (or so), or disregarding failed undergrad courses. I am not sure about the requirements for other schools, but i'm sure that if the average schools i visited were proposing this, other schools in the country were too.
Now i know there are plenty of applicants whom have worked in pharmacy since they were in high school as techs or people with a lot of experience in health care that simply wan't to move up (and schools are taking this into consideration), but these pre-academic standards should remain high. Especially given the saturation problem.
The debate that pins those succeeding academically vs. those only with a loaded resumé - to see who is more qualified, can go on forever. But, one thing i have seen with the Pre-health students (in general) is that they always want to "get over the sciences and go into the health-care". These are your pamphlet reciting students that do it only for the resumé and barely get by in the sciences. They often whine about being very tired and get irritated when a science student "tries too hard". I stress that i talk about general pre-health students because i know some health fields really aren't too concerned about science, but they are rooted in science and should only contain high quality science-literate people.
I believe that standards should be high across the board. Pharmacy schools should only consider GPAs higher than a 3.0 and PCATs with a 70% or higher. Trash the pre-requisite only system (schools may still have courses they want to see on your transcript) and only accept those with a bachelor's degree in a science. I am not saying that these are the only things one must have to be considered; as with all jobs, one must communicate effectively and all that basic stuff. Much more people can have just that. But when you can have those with all that and a proper education, standards are higher.

"I believe that standards should be high across the board. Pharmacy schools should only consider GPAs higher than a 3.0 and PCATs with a 70% or higher. "

You are so far outside the loop. You understand pharmacy schools are businesses right? applications to pharmacy schools are at a 30 year low. Deans are struggling to fill seats. I have personally seen students accepted with a 2.6, students that were missing serious core science prerequisites and other things i won't say here. They don't have an option to increase the GPA required to get accepted. If anything they need to lower it just to survive. Maybe lower it to 2.0 GPA or 1.5 GPA and eliminate the PCAT all together. Pharmacy schools don't have a responsibility to regulate the market, that is the NAPLEX's function.
 
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A little bit of a rant, I suppose. Most may not agree or take this the wrong way. However; it must be said.
A little background: I have been accepted into a College of pharmacy. It is not top tier or bottom tier. The university is pretty famous, but the pharmacy school is a little above average and very affordable.
Rant:
As I was doing my undergrad, I visited pharmacy schools that spat out assurances such as that they will be lowering the bar pcat score (or even getting rid of it, simply requiring whatever score), lowering the gpa requirement to 2.75 (or so), or disregarding failed undergrad courses. I am not sure about the requirements for other schools, but i'm sure that if the average schools i visited were proposing this, other schools in the country were too.
Now i know there are plenty of applicants whom have worked in pharmacy since they were in high school as techs or people with a lot of experience in health care that simply wan't to move up (and schools are taking this into consideration), but these pre-academic standards should remain high. Especially given the saturation problem.
The debate that pins those succeeding academically vs. those only with a loaded resumé - to see who is more qualified, can go on forever. But, one thing i have seen with the Pre-health students (in general) is that they always want to "get over the sciences and go into the health-care". These are your pamphlet reciting students that do it only for the resumé and barely get by in the sciences. They often whine about being very tired and get irritated when a science student "tries too hard". I stress that i talk about general pre-health students because i know some health fields really aren't too concerned about science, but they are rooted in science and should only contain high quality science-literate people.
I believe that standards should be high across the board. Pharmacy schools should only consider GPAs higher than a 3.0 and PCATs with a 70% or higher. Trash the pre-requisite only system (schools may still have courses they want to see on your transcript) and only accept those with a bachelor's degree in a science. I am not saying that these are the only things one must have to be considered; as with all jobs, one must communicate effectively and all that basic stuff. Much more people can have just that. But when you can have those with all that and a proper education, standards are higher.

Following what I said the pharmacy manager where I work, very competent, very hard working.
99 percent of the time he keeps his patience.
He’s very gifted intellectually and socially.
I wish I could have half his skills.
 
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